International Civil Rights Center and Museum

In
1993, Melvin Alston and Earl F. Jones, both natives of North Carolina,
co-founded the International Civil Rights Center and Museum in Greensboro. They state that, "The museum is considered a gift from the citizens of North
Carolina to the nation and the world. We
build this monument for their benefit." Alston and
Jones vision for the center is as follows:

"We seek to memorialize the courageous stand of the Greensboro Four as
they launched, for posterity, the sit-in movement on February 1, 1960.
We hope that the International Civil Rights Center & Museum, with
its focus on the sit-in activities at the F.W. Woolworth lunch counter
in Greensboro in 1960, will inspire the vigilance and fortify the spirit
of all oppressed people to step forward in the on-going struggle for
human freedom."Located in the historic 1929 F.W. Woolworth building in Greensboro, N.C., is the International Civil Rights Center
& Museum. It honors the devotion the “Greensboro Four” gave towards the
international struggle for civil liberties. The museum celebrates the nonviolent
protests that occurred in Greensboro in the 1960's. The 30,000 square foot building complex
features the original lunch counter and stools that Ezell Blair Jr., Franklin Eugene McCain, Joseph McNeil, and David Richmond sat in during the protests, fourteen educational exhibits, a gallery featuring traveling exhibits and space for community meetings, an auditorium, an archival center, an education and an activity center for K-12 students and educators.

The International Civil Rights Center and Museum hope to
remind their visitors of the courage the four Greensboro college boys, as well
as the thousands of other sit-in participants throughout North Carolina, the South,
and around the country, showed during the 1960’s. Their courage led to the desegregation of the
lunch counter at not only F.W. Woolworth but across the entire South.